Hot Rod Charlie at Gainesway awaiting future plans

The four-time stakes winner Hot Rod Charlie is currently at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky with a decision expected soon on whether the 4-year-old resumes racing or begins a stud career in 2023, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Hot Rod Charlie, sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 5 in his most recent start, races for the partnership of Gainesway Stable, Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing and Strauss Brothers Racing.

The colt was sent to the farm shortly after the BC Classic for a rest. A decision on a stud career is expected in coming days, a source said.

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By Oxbow, Hot Rod Charlie has won 5 of 19 starts and earned $5,676,720. If he remains in training as a 5-year-old in 2023, Hot Rod Charlie would be among the most prominent members of the older horse division.

Second in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland and third in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, Hot Rod Charlie’s leading victories include the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby in 2021 and the Grade 2 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs in September.

The Lukas Classic was Hot Rod Charlie’s only domestic stakes win this year.

Earlier this year, Hot Rod Charlie won the second round of the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai in February, and was second to Country Grammer in the $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan in late March.

Purchased for $110,000 as a yearling, Hot Rod Charlie is a half-brother to Mitole, the champion sprinter of 2019 and a stallion whose oldest foals will be 2-year-olds in 2023

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